Part III: Climbing
Once I identified my path to my healing, the "Recipe" described at the end of the book, there was work to do. As in following any recipe, I needed to clarify my intention, gather my "ingredients," set the process in motion, and stay with it to its conclusion. I did everything I could and pulled in all the help I could get, and found myself becoming stronger, more determined, and successful.
For me, it turned out to involve a return to school and a change of career. The strength of my motives, to honor my daughter's life and her memory, and to make my own life peaceful, meaningful and bearable, carried me through. The process took longer than I had anticipated, and than other people could understand, but they didn't know, and neither had I, the challenge of living with trauma. I was learning and growing as I followed my healing path upward. My chronic illness made it more difficult. But the point of it all was that when I finished the long climb up, I was ready to emerge from my constant grief to a healed life of purpose, and even joy!
